Apparent first-order wetting and anomalous scaling in the two-dimensional Ising model

The global phase diagram of wetting in the two-dimensional (2d) Ising model is obtained through exact calculation of the surface excess free energy. Besides a surface field for inducing wetting, a surface-coupling enhancement is included. The wetting transition is critical (second order) for any finite ratio of surface coupling J_s to bulk coupling J, and turns first order in the limit J_s/J to infinity. However, for J_s/J much larger than 1 the critical region is exponentially small and practically invisible to numerical studies. A distinct pre-asymptotic regime exists in which the transition displays first-order character. Surprisingly, in this regime the surface susceptibility and surface specific heat develop a divergence and show anomalous scaling with an exponent equal to 3/2.Comment: This new version presents the exact solution and its properties whereas the older version was based on an approximate numerical study of the mode

Majority-vote on undirected Barabasi-Albert networks

On Barabasi-Albert networks with z neighbours selected by each added site, the Ising model was seen to show a spontaneous magnetisation. This spontaneous magnetisation was found below a critical temperature which increases logarithmically with system size. On these networks the majority-vote model with noise is now studied through Monte Carlo simulations. However, in this model, the order-disorder phase transition of the order parameter is well defined in this system and this wasn't found to increase logarithmically with system size. We calculate the value of the critical noise parameter q_c for several values of connectivity $z$ of the undirected Barabasi-Albert network. The critical exponentes beta/nu, gamma/nu and 1/nu were calculated for several values of z.Comment: 15 pages with numerous figure

Examination of the Necessity of Complete Wetting near Critical Points in Systems with Long-Range Forces

Cahn’s general argument for complete wetting in the vicinity of critical points is critically reviewed. Critical-point wetting does occur in systems with short-range (exponentially decaying) forces. Whenever short-range forces favor wetting, while at the same time there is a tendency towards drying due to weak long-range (algebraically decaying) forces, neither critical-point wetting nor drying takes place. In this case the thickness of the partial wetting layer diverges as the bulk correlation length upon approach of the critical point

Effect of Criticality on Wetting Layers

We study wetting phenomena in which the wetting layer is (nearly) critical and intrudes between two noncritical phases. Finite-size scaling theory predicts an interaction, identical in range to that due to the van der Waals forces, between the interfaces bounding the wetting layer. This finite-size interaction leads to new wetting phenomena near critical end points, e.g., in ternary mixtures. The interaction amplitude and its possible universality can be observed directly in experiment